avenue of escape while in his wake trailed the rope like a long thin
snake with its fangs fastened upon the frantic brute's neck. A roar of
laughter went up from the crowd and Purdy turned to the girl. "Made a
bad throw an' got him around the neck," he explained. "When you git
'em that way you got to turn 'em loose or they'll drag you all over the
flat. A nine-hundred-pound horse hain't got no show ag'in a
fifteen-hundred-pound steer with the rope on his neck. An' even if the
horse would hold, the cinch wouldn't, so _he's_ out of it."

The black steer was rounded up and chased from the arena, and once more
Mayor Maloney, watch in hand, cried "_Go git him_!"

Another steer dashed out and another cowboy with whirling loop
thundered after him. The rope fell across the animal's shoulders and
the loop swung under. The horse stopped, and the steer, his fore legs
jerked from under him, fell heavily. To make his rope fast to the
saddle-horn and slip to the ground leaving the horse to fight it out
with the captive, was the work of a moment for the cowboy who
approached the struggling animal, short rope in hand. Purdy who was
leaning over his saddle-horn, watching the man's every move, gave a cry
of relief.

"He's up behind! That'll fix your clock!" Sure enough, the struggling
animal had succeeded in regaining his hind legs and while the horse,
with the cunning of long practice, kept his rope taut, the steer
plunged about to such good purpose that precious seconds passed before
the cowboy succeeded in making his tie-rope fast to a hind foot,
jerking it from under the struggling animal, and securing it to the
opposite fore foot.